After every student has boarded the ship, it sets off from the dock, heading towards the Island where the Vulcan academy is located.
Jesse makes his way through the sea of students hanging around the ship's lower deck in search of his cabin. He finds the right number and winces at the tiny space. He has always had trouble with small places.
Walking further into the small, cage-like looking cabin, he drops his backpack on the bed and sits on it.
His thoughts turn to the white haired girl he met on the docks. Who is she? He speaks his thoughts out loud, while also asking himself why he felt a connection with her.
Reminding himself that it doesn't matter who the girl is, as a relationship is not his reason for coming to Vulcan Academy, he pushes her thoughts away and focuses on something else.
His siblings.
His mind wanders to his little town and the twins. Even though they are not so little anymore, Jesse still feels responsible for them and worries about how they would fare in his absence.
Lost in thoughts, worrying about his family, he lowers his tall frame to the bed, his hand moving toward the necklace around his neck. He fondled with the locket while he continued to roam about in his mind.
A knock on his door snaps him out of his mind, and he gets up from the tiny cot bed. He moves to the door and opens it to reveal a seaman in uniform.
Dinner time, the seaman says, and moves on to the other doors.
Jesse leaves his room, shutting it behind him. He walks to what would serve as the ship's cafeteria to find it filled with students.
His body stiffened slightly before he headed out toward the serving area, his expression closed off and warning off anyone with any design to approach him.
As if they could interpret his stiff, cold expression, the students stayed clear of his path.
Jesse gets his food and turns around to face the room, his eyes searching for a table away from everyone where he could eat in peace.
Distracted, he runs into a wall, but luckily catches his tray in time before he could spill his food.
He takes a step back and slowly drags his eyes to meet a stormy brown eye in a mean face, staring down at him with the intensity of a tiger.
The boy standing before him not only towers over Jesse by a few feet, but is built like a wrestler. Due to his intimidating appearance, most of the students are terrified to deal with him.
Jesse running into him quickly drew the students' attention, and they waited with eager excitement to see what came next.
Used to students, quaking before his presence, the taller boy frowns at Jesse's lack of fear. Jesse wore a bored look, which only confounded his nemesis but intrigued him.
The desire to put Jesse in his place fired the taller boy to take a step closer to Jesse, trying to intimidate him with his impressive height.
Jesse doesn't move, but instead mutters in a bored tone, "You are blocking my way," while staring the big dude in the eyes.
"Really," the taller boy smirks, with a sly glint in his eyes. "What are you going to do about it?" He dares Jesse.
Jesse holds his stare without speaking, his blue eyes searching the muddy depths before him. He realizes the taller boy is trying to goad him into a fight. Taking him on is not a problem, but Jesse doesn't want to start his day at his new school with a fight.
He looks away and mumbles. "I will walk around you." He moves to do just that, unaware that the taller boy wasn't alone. His minions immediately moved to block Jesse's path, stopping his progress.
The taller boy grinned at Jesse's predicament, his brown eyes gleaming with dark excitement as he waited for Jesse's next move. Jesse's icy, calm demeanor irritated him, and he wants to poke at it to get a reaction from Jesse.
The stormy blue eyes tell him that there is fire lurking underneath Jesse's cold exterior, and he hungers to unleash it to see how far and much it can burn.
A movement at the entrance of the ship cafeteria draws everyone's attention, and the students watch as the popular kids walk in majestically into the cafeteria. Leading the pack, the one and only Princess of the academy.
The white blonde-haired young woman looked royal and regal in her short evening flay gown.
All eyes trailed after her like packs of bees after a honeycomb, as the princess walked with her head held high, her expression impassive toward the serving area.
Victoria doesn't look sideways; her attention is focused on where she is going. To her, nothing around her was worth her attention.
Her expression remained blank and detached until she reached the serving area and felt him.
Jesse, unable to help himself, had watched the white haired girl walk toward him, amazed at how she could look even more beautiful. He tried to pretend that he was staring at the girl because he was curious about her, but a little part of him believed it to be more.
Victoria stops briefly to look toward Jesse, their eyes locking for a brief moment, before she moves on as if she doesn't care, ignoring the slight increase in her heart rate and her wolf stirring at the boy's presence.
Jesse feels slightly disappointed at the princess's brush-off, but his inner musing is interrupted when the tall wall before him speaks. "Wow! The icy princess acknowledged you!" There was envy and intrigue in the boy's voice.
Excuse me! Jesse stares at the taller boy with a confused expression. Instead of clarifying things, the boy peers at him like he is some exotic animal, before moving aside to let Jesse go.
Perplexed by the boy's strange behaviour, Jesse doesn't hang around for him to change his mind or ask for an explanation; instead, he wiggles his way between the taller boy and one of his minions and walks off.
The taller boy wasn't the only one who noticed the Princess's slight pause when she came upon Jesse; all her friends noticed. They all ignored it, deeming it unimportant for consideration. The only one who took an exception to the Princess's weird behaviour was her boyfriend, Blaise. The blonde boy watched Jesse walk away with a dark look in his eyes.